Resumen de Engaging in Curriculum Reform of Chinese Chemistry Graduate Education: An Example from a Photocatalysis-Principles and Applications Course
As worldwide energy shortages and environmental degradation increase, along with steady increases in population, current science and technology are confronted with many challenges to successfully sustain our society. Among the existing promising choices, photocatalysis has been widely considered as a potential solution to energy and environment problems because of its double functions of producing H2 fuel directly from water and efficiently decomposing organic pollutants. This paper reports on the teaching experience of a graduate course-Photocatalysis: Principles and Applications-in the 2011-2012 spring term at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), mainly involving the teaching materials, literature discussion, and students' feedback. During instruction, great efforts were made to introduce state-of-the-art research activities as well as related opportunities and challenges identified in top research papers, which are well received by the students. Feedback collected from the students was analyzed and is discussed, in order to improve this course accordingly. In addition, suggestions for potential yet non-expert instructors are provided, as well as ways to adapt the course for undergraduates.
